Traci Johnson made history this season on The Real Housewives of New Jersey. It wasn’t for flipping a table, revealing a deeply personal storyline, or pushing someone’s husband into a pool — but she made history by being the only cast member to get edited entirely out of the reunion. It wasn’t until the reunion was over that fans realized Traci never made an appearance, despite posting pictures and showing off a gold reunion dress on Instagram. Now that the dust has (kind of) settled from the explosive three-part reunion, Jackie Goldschneider is coming to Traci’s defense and trying to make sense of why her time at the reunion was left on the cutting room floor.
Jackie, who’s currently facing rumors that she was demoted to “friend-of,” spoke to Page Six about her theories on why Traci didn’t make the final cut of the RHONJ season 12 reunion.
“She was there for a really long time, she looked beautiful, and she had on a stunning gold dress. But I don’t think Traci said anything groundbreaking at the reunion that it had to go in. I really think they had to make a choice,” Jackie explained. “I don’t think it was because they don’t think Traci was important to the cast.”
Was she important to the cast, though? Usually, when an important friend of the Housewives comes to the reunion, Andy Cohen gives them a nice little introduction and a few minutes of screentime. Traci got neither. Even on The Real Housewives of Potomac season 6 reunion, Askale Davis got to show off her glam and say a sentence or two before being dismissed from the stage.
Regardless of her absence from the final cut, Jackie is confident that Traci played an important role in the show this year and helped move the storylines along, especially regarding Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga’s ongoing family feud.
“[She offered] forward progress with some of the storylines, especially the family piece with Melissa and Teresa,” Jackie noted. “She kind of stepped in and was the mediator with that,” she continued, adding that Traci’s outdoor obstacle course “was one of the biggest scenes of the season.”
If Traci’s outdoor obstacle course was one of the biggest scenes of the season, that probably says more about the season than it does about Traci’s ability to be a good cast member. A scarecrow could have hosted the outdoor obstacle course and yielded the same results. Either way, Jackie is confident that Traci’s first-season performance was a solid one.
She said, “I just think that Traci always had an opinion, which always keeps the story moving forward.” Jackie continued, “And her and Tiki [Barber] were really just fun and brought a new energy.”
Although we didn’t get to see Traci in action at the reunion, it sounds like things got a little spicy. Jackie recalled a few back-and-forth spats she had with Teresa.
“Teresa likes to throw at her that she was the ‘nanny’ when she met Tiki,” Jackie recalled. The whole day was such a whirlwind because it was really the longest, hardest reunion I’ve ever sat through. So, I don’t really remember everything. But I do feel bad that she was edited out.”
TELL US – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT TRACI GETTING EDITED OUT OF THE REUNION? DO YOU THINK SHE SHOULD COME BACK NEXT SEASON?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
